Hello on Thursday

Dear Friends,

It has been 7.5 days since I touched the laptop. I had a physical problem that required hospitalization. Last Thursday, I got up as usual in the wee hours of the morning. I sent a short e-mail because I was experiencing pain in stomach area, and some tingling down one of my arms. I went on WebMd, and looked up symptoms of a heart attack. I decided to take a shower, get dressed, and drive myself to Berkshire Medical Center. I did leave Linda a brief note before I left the house at 7:10 AM.
When I arrived at the emergency room of the hospital, and I told them that I was possibly experiencing a heat attack, the nurses whipped me into the cardiac unit, and hooked me up to do an EKG machine. They ruled out a heart attack, and tried to find out what was causing the pain. After an ultrasound,a chest X-ray, blood sample, they determined that I had pancreatitis. In between all the tests, Linda came downstairs to have her normal coffee. She read my note, and almost had a heart attack herself. She met me in the emergency room in between the X-ray and the ultrasound. I did text her that it was a gall bladder problem and not a heart attack.
They decided to admit me, and I have been in the hospital since noon time today.
For the first three days, I was not allowed anything but ice chips to shrink the high numbers caused by the pancreatitis. During the ultrasound, they determined that I had gall stones. This Monday at 3 PM, my gall bladder was laproscopically removed. Recovery has not been quick and easy. I was hoping to be involved with the pick up of Danielle, and Isabelle at Logan Airport on Wednesday, but I was physically unable to do so. My sister volunteered to make it all girl's trip, and drove her vehicle to Boston. Linda and Marie had lunch at Kevin's restaurant, and waited for the pick up at 4:30 PM. It is so nice his restaurant is 1.1 miles from the airport. They returned to Dough after the pick up. Kyla came home from work early, and the girl's bonded once again. They headed home after the mad rush out of Boston was over.

Did I meet any interesting people in the hospital? Yes, I did! My first roommate was a drug addict with a bandage around his throat from ear to ear. Now you might be thinking , how did I did I know that he was a drug addict? He kept on asking for pain medication, which is not abnormal, but the nurses refused to give him any. I on the other hand was getting dose after dose of morphine, and he wasn't getting anything. My roommate then decided to make himself vomit hoping that he could get pain medication. Finally he called in the charge nurse, and started swearing at her because he wasn't getting any pain medication. The nurse would only give him Tylenol for two abscessed teeth. He said that he was going to unhook his tubes, and get his pain medicine on the streets.
The nurses wheeled me out of the room, and put me in another room all by myself. The drug addict eventually did pull out the tubes, and left the hospital. This person is a known quantity in the detox unit according to the nurse.

Speaking of nurses, two of the nurses who took care of me, after the operation, were former students of mine. One graduated the same year I retired in 2004, and the other one graduated the year before I retired. Are these two young nurses going to tell everyone that they saw their former math teacher naked?

Well, I am home now, but am I healed? No! I have a drainage port sewn into my side. A two foot long hose is attached from the port to a bag which luckily fits into a pocket of my cargo pants which I normally wear. According to my discharge orders, I have to keep this drain in until June 30, 2009 when the surgeon will remove the port in his office. I signed up for a golf tournament next weekend, and I can't even begin to swing a golf club. I have trouble sitting down and getting up from a chair. It even hurts when I try to cough, or when I sneeze. You should have seen me trying take a shower with the drainage bag in my hand. There are no pockets when you are naked.
I also need to have visiting nurses come in to change the bandages where the port is located, and to drain the port on a daily basis.

I am going to take this not so good experience, and turn it into a positive. I am going to start a regimen of eating healthy food, and staying away from high fat foods. I am going to reduce my alcoholic beverage consumption to almost nothing (this might be a problem).
A friend on this e-mail list warned me of the high fat / red meat thing, but it took an incident like this to wake me up. This friend had a heart attack when he was in his mid 50's. I guess that I should have listened to him. I must be a slow learner.
I also need to work in some sort of exercise routine. Hopefully, in a year from now might even be able to fit into a smaller size than I currently require.

I did watch every Red Sox from beginning to end while in the hospital.

Politics -- The President's fly killing ability was duly noted. The President's ratings are down a bit today. Change didn't happen as quick as people hoped that it would. "Give the guy a chance" is still my position. The other guy left quite a mess that will take a while to fix.

Have to go. I might have to take a nap.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad